Goodbye Puffins
Here are some of my favourite Puffin outtakes of 2019: Westray has said goodbye to its Puffins for another year. Farewell our …
Puffins this way, no that way, no this way…
Puffins this way. That’s what the sign says. Except the Puffins are going this way and that way in a dizzyingly busy …
All fingers and thumbs
Did you know birds have an arm-wing and a hand-wing? You can see it well on Puffins when they fold their wings …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #5
Puffins are hunted by Great Skuas (known in Orkney as Bonxies). The Bonxies patrol the coast and appear, low and fast, unseen …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #4
Alfred Schnabel, the incredible digging Puffin, almost throws himself off the cliffs in his Herculean efforts to dig grass roots out of …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #3
Puffins are delightful to watch. The more you watch, the more you notice. The more you notice the less you understand. We …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #2
It takes an extraordinary amount of time to keep in tip-top waterproof condition when you spend your time in the salty ocean. …
The One Minute Puffin Cure #1
I met a German tourist at the Castle o’ Burrian on Westray in Orkney. He’d just been to see the Puffins. His …
Sunday’s Puffin
And the Puffin that hatches on the Sabbath dayIs bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Saturday’s Puffin
Saturday’s Puffin has a fight at a party.
Friday’s Puffin
Friday’s Puffin laughs loud and hearty.
Thursday’s Puffin
Thursday’s Puffin has far to go.
Wednesday’s Puffin
Wednesday’s Puffin is full of woe.
Tuesday’s Puffin
Tuesday’s Puffin is full of grace.
Monday’s Puffin
Monday’s Puffin is fair of face.
Bempton birds – when you know you’re being watched
Many birds are perfect parcels of protein. There are plenty of predatory species which would treat them as a tasty snack. This …
Bempton birds – Cousin Puffin and the Ancestral Auk
Non-scientists often think the mysteries of the living world have been solved. Nothing could be further from the truth. There’s plenty of …
Bempton birds – the miracle of flight
The power of flight still astonishes me. If only I could be up there with the birds at RSPB Bempton Cliffs. The …
Bempton birds – Gannets, Gannets, everywhere
Try going to Bempton and getting a photograph without a Gannet in it. Try it. Go on. Here’s a Puffin in flight; …
2018 highlights of a wilder Orkney life
My trips to Orkney in 2018 were full of wildlife surprises. I spent some time in the summer with the Black Guillemots …
Westray Coast 50 – Day Four
My adventures on the fourth of five days walking the entire coast of Westray.
Puffin with Sandeels
I’ve only had fleeting glances of Puffins with Sandeels as they whizz past at 30 miles per hour. I’m delighted to see …
Razorbill and Puffin meet
I’m sitting on the cliffs of Westray on a beautiful day. I’m wearing full camouflage. I’ve been taking photographs of birds as …
Posing for Puffin Portraits
I’ve opened a photographic studio here on Westray. No, not for people, but for Puffins. I have a range of natural backdrops, …
Witness for the Extinction
There’s a new report out on the State of the World’s Birds. It reports the science that 1 in 8 bird species …
2017 highlights of a wilder Orkney life
2017 was a wonderful year for wildlife experiences in Orkney. In July the seabird city at Noup Head was a whirling, wheeling …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #15 – The Puffin
The Puffin is a little bird with a funny face, and a big beak striped like pyjamas.
Domestic
Puffins live so close together that there are frequent small territorial acknowledgements and disputes. They also pair for life so there are …
House proud
This Puffin was sitting outside its burrow in the soil at the top of the cliff last summer. Its mate was inside …
Puffin portraits
Puffins have a wide variety of poses which humans find appealing. We can easily imagine them as having human characteristics, or anthropomorphise …